Angel With The Green Dress On
by LostWolfGirl
Summary: Sequel to Pathetic Ramblings of a Homosexual Werewolf. A series of snippets from Mark and Jordan's life as parents.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Angel With the Green Dress On

Published: 01-19-10, Updated: 04-14-10

Chapters: 5, Words: 12,898

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Chapter 1: Angel With The Green Dress On

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Jordan's POV

When Mark and I put in our second application for adoption, we didn't expect a call so quickly, we had expected to wait, maybe years as we had with Elijah and we certainly didn't expect it to come from the state. We had applied at All Aid, the private agency that had blessed us with Elijah the first time around.

When Mark first suggested we adopt I had been cautious, nervous about the effect it would have on our relationship, but after Eli, it was a clear choice. We had room, we had money and we had love to share, so it was a simple matter of getting the paperwork started.

The initial contact came from a husky male voice calling from Washington State Child Protective services. Tyler Grant was a friend of our counselor Jacqueline at All Aid, and this case had him scrambling for help. It was very complicated.

Hazel Georgia O'Neal, had in her short three years been given up for adoption by her gambling addict of a single mom, and then been adopted by a happy lesbian couple. That could have been a fairy tale happy end for all involved, but just as quickly as it had all happened, she'd become an orphan again following a tragic car accident she had miraculously survived.

Hazel's adopted grandmother, a kind and beautiful woman by the name of Norma had tried to raise her, but her daughter Nikki and her partner Lizzie had been an older couple and so Norma was far past the age of caring for a three year old. She tried, Norma tried hard, but a retirement complex was nowhere to raise a little girl and when Jacqueline got the call, the goddess that she was, we were the first couple she thought of.

This process went by much smoother than with Eli, having already successfully adopted once. We met with Norma, her loving white haired grandma the next day. She reminded me so much of my own grandmother and she was so kind it broke my heart seeing in her eyes how hard this was for her. I promised with great sincerity to visit at least once a month, though internally I promised much more than that, she deserved it. We signed all the necessary paperwork with a lawyer and two weeks later, Hazel was with us.

Oh, she was beautiful. Eli couldn't stop crying, he was so happy he hummed, his whole body vibrating adorably. He was the first person we talked to when we discussed expanding our family and though he was a happy boy, I had never seen him so excited before… well not until Hazel was in his arms.

She instantly bonded to me, it was not like anything I'd experienced in my whole life. A love so different from that I had for Mark and Eli, not better not stronger, just so different. She was so little, so pale and soft and she smelled like peaches. She reminded me of a breath of southern air and as a family we doted on her.

She wasn't put down on the ground for the entire first week, which we spent bonding with her. We took her to visit Norma everyday for that first week, something they both appreciated. Kim and Jared came over the first night, bearing presents and gushing almost as much as us. Taylor and Melody were over the next morning, fawning dramatically. Jace and Lawrence flew in from Los Angeles to meet her later, bringing their own band of teenage foster sons Wiley, Conner and Joshua and more presents than we knew how to handle.

Mark's family gave us a bit of time to settle in and after a week David, Emily, Jessy and Sam came ready for work. We hadn't had time to make the guest room into something she could live in. When we decided to adopt again, we didn't know what the age or sex our child might be, so the four of them worked hard on making it possible, a warm welcome gift from the Uleys.

The welcome party for Hazel was to be much smaller this time. A quiet affair held at Anna and Michael's home in La Push.

"Marcus, did you call the baker?" I shouted over Eli and Hazel's rousing match of hide and seek. Eli was crouched behind the arm of the couch, popping out and surprising Hazel every few seconds, making her squeal in excitement. The game had been going on for over an hour, neither of them growing bored.

"Jared delivering the cake to Phil's house at 6," he called walking into the living room half dressed. Becoming married parents had done nothing to stop my desire for him. I had feared, stupidly, that time, age and parenting would dim the blazing fire I held for him but I was wrong. He looked older, having stopped phasing for a few years now, his face more chiseled, his body still perfect, awe-inspiring-I rushed to him and he crushed me to his body before I could even utter a word.

"Ummm, God, I love you," I moaned into his mouth, he pulled me out the room and out of our children's sight, guiding me with a strong hold on my ass and pressing me flush against the wall.

"I can't wait until she starts sleeping in her bed," he groaned, rubbing my hard length through my pants.

"Soon, soon," I panted, pushing him away when I felt my orgasm build, I had just gotten dressed and had no time change again. He smirked kissing me once more before returning to our room to finish getting dressed; we were late for our own party.

"Pa! Pa!" Eli shouted to get my attention, I turned quickly and watched in amusement as Hazel stripped out her perfect little pink princess dress.

"Hazel," I scolded with a smile, she looked up at me, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"No!" She shouted joyfully. The dress was one of the many many extravagant dresses passed down and gifted to us by friends and family. She hadn't in the days since she arrived dressed in anything but the best, and Mark had become a bit obsessed. I shook my finger at her but she just laughed, pulling down her matching ruffly bloomers with a devilish laugh.

Eli burst into a fit of laughter as she hopped down from the couch and ran across the room now naked as a jay bird with two little white Mary-Jane shoes attached to her feet. Mark waltzed out of the bedroom looking like the Sex God that he was, took one look at Hazel as she flew past him a blur of pale pink skin and joined us in laughter.

"Guess she didn't like the dress, huh?" Mark said signing simultaneously, it had become a habit in our house.

'Or the panties,' Eli observed thoughtfully, it made me laugh harder.

We followed her as she made her way back into her recently remodeled room. She went straight to the pile of clothes we had shifted through before we dressed her for the night and with a flourish she picked up a dress handing it to me with a nod.

'She dressed herself,' Eli signed in surprise.

"The girl knows what she wants," Mark agreed proudly.

"Jace will be thrilled, this is his dress… she's our own little fashionista," I said grabbing a pair of little white panties which she stepped into dutifully, and with a grin that hurt my cheeks I helped my little angel into her pale green dress.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Daddy and His Peach

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January 2040

The little brown dust particles in the room danced in the light of morning, never really reaching me, just floating almost mockingly above my head. Mark was still sleeping, his deep even breathing the only sound in our room now that Hazel had scurried out of bed to meet her brother in the living room. It was a weekend ritual. The kids would watch cartoons together in the morning until they were too overcome with hunger to ignore their growling stomachs any longer, which was usually around the time Mark could finally be roused from his slumber.

Mark stirred, but I didn't move, scared to force him awake after a long week of working in the office. Mark's job for the council kept him busy 60 hours a week, paperwork for a new casino, contractor agreements for the expansion of the school, complaints against so-and-so, the agenda seemed endless. So on the weekends, his only days to sleep in, I couldn't bring myself to wake him early, even though I craved his presence even more intensely by the end of the week.

"Jordan, kiss me, Babe," he whispered, his voice was husky with the last vestiges of sleep and it cracked on the very last syllable. I smiled the lip-cracking kind of smile only Mark could really induce in me. He rolled closer resting his head on the pillow I had previously shared with Hazel, it still smelled like her: sweet peach cobbler, my very own piece of Southern comfort in the middle of the Olympic Peninsula.

I leaned in, moving to take claim of his addicting lips when his hands snaked under my t-shirt lightly grazing my flesh and making me instantly hard and alert.

"She'll be coming back in here with Eli as soon as they're hungry," I reasoned, but I found myself inching closer, craving even just a few more moments of this closeness. Mark Uley, son of the famed Sam Uley, my husband or "life partner" was impossible to resist in any given situation. The enticing soft curve of his bottom lip was like a magnet to me, but couple that with his adorable bed-head and the deep reddish pillow creases on the side of his face and I was done for.

We hadn't had any or I should say many close encounters since Hazel had arrived more than six months ago. The first few days she slept in her room, not comfortable enough with us to convey the message that sleeping alone scared her, but once she opened up, she was in our bed every night.

Mark joked it was because of the big flower bed now taking center position in her room, that it was cursed, but it was beyond comforting that she had reached a point where she was so at ease with us. She knew we loved her and would protect her, and as happy as that made me, it did stop pretty much any of our opportunities to be intimate, physically at least. Spiritually, Mark and I were intimate to our very core and in every simple movement. When we made breakfast together and when we walked or laughed together, we were united, but it didn't completely quench the want for physical intimacy as well.

I leapt on him, straddling his leg as I went in for a kiss. His tongue peaked past my lips seeking mine, the pointed tip drawing a slow circle across my taste buds. Nothing in the world tasted better than my husband, years together and nothing had changed that.

"What can we do in under ten minutes?" He asked rolling us onto our sides and pulling at the band of my shorts to stuff his cool hand down the front, grabbing onto my now pulsing hard member. I hissed from the almost forgotten sensation of his touch. I couldn't say we hadn't found creative ways to be together, though they usually involved bathroom quickies and stolen touches at pack parties, but they were few and far between and I found myself wanting him on a much more constant level.

"I won't last ten minutes, it's been so long," I panted as he brought his hand down to the base flicking his wrist in a fluid motion. He smirked, kissing along the side of my face while his thumb worked across my head which was now slick with desire.

"Let's have a countdown then shall we?" He chuckled increasing the speed of his strokes. "One Mississippi… two Mississippi… three Mississippi," he breathed in my ear, his warm breath sweeping over my neck in a sweet caress. I trembled, my body quaking under the skill of his hand.

"Mark," I moaned, struggling to keep my voice down. Eli would not be able to hear us even if we screamed out in pleasure, but Hazel's pristine toddler ears would pick up anything that outstripped her Saturday morning cartoons.

"You made me lose count," he purred, starting again from eight where my heart had started its crazed increase. When he reached eleven I stiffened trying to control my breathing, but it was too late. I exploded against his hand and he sighed, lying on top of me to reach for the tissues on the nightstand.

I buried my face in his chest, my cheeks now heated in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Don't be. God, I miss this," he moaned as I moved to remove his pants under the thick blue comforter. He reached into our cabinet beside the bed, going for an easily recognizable bottle of lubrication, the sight of which made my stomach clench in anticipation.

"I love you," I whispered my proclamation to the silent room, thrusting into him with relative ease and with a beautiful familiarity. We moved in an orchestrated dance, having joined together so many times, yet it never grew old. I wanted him as powerfully and with as much passion as I had the first night we made love.

"We need time away," he practically begged as I reached between us, grabbing onto his stiff erection, which felt like warm skin pulled over unforgiving steel. The erotic feel of him as he twitched and throbbed beneath my palm brought me closer to the brink.

"We can ask your mom." The sentence came out fragmented, disjointed through frantic thrusts and rapid pumps of my arm, trying to bring him to speed with my now over sensitized state of being. Every molecule of me was now humming, vibrating faster as they attempted to break free.

"She—takes Trisha's girls—o-on the weekends. Ugh! How about—Kim?" He sputtered, squeaking Kim's name as I switched positions, flipping him over in one brisk movement. He held the headboard as my thrusts got wilder, my primal need for him increasing as his smell became more prominent, the small beads of sweat that formed on the small of his back being the culprit.

I leaned in, tracing the thick black outline of his marriage tattoo with my tongue. His skin was ever so slightly briny, with hints of his natural flavor, which permeated his being. Releasing a puff of warm air over his damp skin caused goose bumps to rise across his shoulder blades and down his arms while his back bowed and his body became taut with his approaching release.

"I'll call Kiiim!" He joined me in a simpering cry before he fell flat on the bed below me.

"Da!" Eli's scream on the other side of the door was accompanied by the swift knocks of little fists. Our morning was over, but hearing Hazel's adorable giggles made it hard to be disappointed.

I rolled off of him, adjusting my clothes and making my way towards our little angels. "What do you want for breakfast Marcus?" I called back to him, but he was already at my side, grabbing my hands and opening the door to face the mob together.

We found a babysitter on Sunday, a very willing one at that: Rachel Black-Lahote. Rachel having had only one child of her own, was always willing to give a helping hand. Sowe took Hazel, all bundled against the chill in her fashionable pink coat, to the Lahote house.

Rachel met us in the driveway, pulling Hazel up quickly in her arms and promising her safety before we left, each of us kissing one of her adorable, chubby round cheeks first. I watched in the rearview mirror as she stared after our departing car while we drove away and only the prospect of spending some much needed quality time with Mark prevented me from turning around and going back for her.

Mark and I had not left her for more than an hour at a time in the months since we had adopted her and in a weird way it was as if we didn't know what to do. Since Eli had arrived we hadn't actually done much recreationally. Our time was spent as a unit, a trio of dudes just doing our thing. We had forgotten how to be on our own, as a couple, and it took us quite a while to figure out where we could go.

The zoo was the final decision. We had both not gone in years and never in the winter, when most of the displays would be closed, but the lush greenery and the clear paths made it a nice place to just enjoy ourselves for the afternoon.

The idea actually came from Levi. He and Krista had taken Eli and Ava to the zoo last month for the annual Christmas light show as he had each year since Eli became a part of our family. They'd tried to coax Hazel into going with them, but she'd refused, not wanting to leave without me and Mark. It would have been a perfect opportunity to spend alone time with Mark as I know Levi intended it to be.

As much as I constantly craved Mark and longed for more chances to be physically intimate, I honestly hadn't minded missing out when Hazel stayed behind. We probably would have been too worried about her being away for a whole day to properly enjoy the time anyways since Levi didn't have very much experience with a child as young as Hazel or even with her since he had been occupied with other things in the past few months.

We ate junk food, nachos covered in the kind of cheese that could barely be called cheese, fried chicken, burgers with pepper jack, cheesecakes bites dipped in chocolate and covered with chopped nuts and crazy smoothies topped with whipped cream.

"God, I haven't eaten like this since—shit, forever," Mark moaned, rubbing his now distended belly and falling back against the fluffy white fleece blanket we'd laid in the grass, so that it looked as though he was laying on a cloud.

"Since Eli came and you stopped phasing, when we decided to live healthier lives. Do you miss it?" I asked lying curled to his side. It was a layered question, his feelings on no longer being a wolf, about how our lives had changed since we'd become a family.

"Not for a second… I—sometimes miss the possibility, but what we have is… great."

"The possibility of what, Marcus?" I asked rolling him over till his face was level with mine. He kissed my chin, a soft perfect kiss which he moved to my mouth just as quickly.

"The possibility of forever, of eternity with you… I don't think one lifetime is enough." The wind picked up, cooling his bare skin under my hands as I held him, and I brought him in tighter, trying to transfer my heat to him. I had not stopped phasing until two years after him and the side effects of being a wolf, the heat, the healing, the permanent youth, had not left me yet.

"I… then it shouldn't be," I whispered boldly. We had made the decision to age for Eli, but as time went on, the realization that I would one day lose him stayed glued in the far recesses of my mind.

"Suggesting we go vamp? It's all the rage now," he joked poking me in my overly stuffed belly, which made me grunt.

"Yes, becoming a blood thirty mosquito… sounds very glamorous," I laughed darkly.

"Then… do you want to start phasing again?"

"Do you?" I deflected the question wisely and he cocked his head to the side, chewing on his pink bottom lip and my eyes followed the movement. He looked young still, though part of that was the filter I saw him through, in which he never aged and never looked anything but gorgeous.

"I've… thought about it," he answered honestly, sitting up to watch me closely.

"And?" I prodded, sitting up to meet his eyes. His phone rang, cutting our conversation short with the melodic tune that denoted one of the wolf girls. It was Rachel.

"Is she okay?" Those words with his concern made my heart plummet to the soles of my feet. As a father, I worried probably more than I should.

"What happened?" I asked him uneasily, watching him carefully as he listened to the voice on the other end.

"We'll be there as soon as possible," Mark promised looking at me with dark, angry eyes and it was easy to see the tempest brewing in them as a shadow crossed his face spurring me to life.

"Is she hurt?" I was already packing the litter from our picnic in a bag, my heart beating hard against my chest, knocking a frantic, erratic tempo.

"She's fine, just upset. Rachel thought this was a good time to force Trisha's girls on Hazel," he hissed as the last bits of rubbish and the blanket were cleared away. "Sammy did something, Rachel didn't say what, but she's howling like a banshee." We were in the car by the time he finished explaining.

I speedily wove through the city traffic; cutting people off without a care, too anxious to reach the open roads leading back home where I could easily race towards our waiting daughter. When I reached them, I drove so fast the roads looked pure black and the trees were a permanent blob of green.

His phone rang again when we were minutes from town, it was Hazel. He tried to soothe her, speaking slowly and lovingly to our little girl, but she wanted me. I wouldn't say Mark and I picked favorites, both of our children were precious, made more precious by the fact that we could not have them ourselves, but they chose favorites in us; I was Hazel's.

"Daddy!" She howled into the phone as soon as I placed it to my ear. The pain of hearing her so upset was unimaginable, locking my chest in a vice grip and shattering my heart.

"Oh, Peach, I'll be there so soon. Please don't cry," I reasoned with the tiniest Uley-Varn. She sniffled, and I could almost see her, fists balled trying to regain her composure before she burst into heartbreaking tears again.

"Daddy, fasta." Her thick baby accent had taken time to get used to, and truthfully only I had mastered it, so hearing my daughter's desperate cries for me to hurry was like a shot in the ass. I hit the gas, stomping down until it wouldn't go anymore and with a desperate, jarring screech I halted in Rachel's driveway, not bothering to close the door as I rushed to my angel.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Hazel broke away from Rachel, her chubby little legs working back and forth rapidly till she reached me.

I pulled her to my chest, not listening or interfering as Mark and Rachel argued behind me. Hazel was a lot more sensitive than Eli and she took careful introduction. Her cousins, David's daughters, were a few years older and a lot more rambunctious.

I turned away from them, cradling my most precious jewel in my arms protectively.

"Daddy, home."

And her wish was my command.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Peach's Circus

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August 2040

My Peach was four years old, her second birthday in our care, though the first was after less than a month of being with us and was marked only with a special family dinner. Now her fourth birthday was being looked upon by the Uley-Varn family as the event of the year.

Mark, who had the tendency of taking things a bit overboard, was abuzz. Not that Eli, who was the most attentive older brother, or I, the worst example of a love-struck father, was much better. Though in the days leading up to the event, even I realized it was getting a tad bit extreme.

Annabelle's party planning company had been hired for this particular shindig, and the party went from a small family get-together to a reservation wide festival. Helium tanks, more balloons in various shades of green than I had ever seen in my life, a mountain of sweets and pastries from Jared, a bouncy fun house, magicians, a petting zoo, Soli as our DJ, and well the list went on so that it could no longer be held at our cabin.

Mark, now working for the council, had taken the initiative to rent the community center and the adjoining Quileute ceremony grounds. Annabelle, being family, gave us decorations and services at cost, but that didn't prevent the final bill coming to well over three thousand dollars. Not that I was complaining, as long as my little girl was happy, I couldn't care much about dollar bills, though even as an obsessed father, I was rational enough to realize a four year old could have been easily pleased with a handful of balloons and Neapolitan ice cream.

"We haven't gotten her a present yet," Mark said running in the room so that he had to skid to a stop. Hazel was staying with my brother and his wife Anna, leaving the men to prepare for the next day's last minute planning.

"The party is her present, Marcus." Eli ran in after him, throwing himself on our bed with a loud thud, I pulled him in, kissing his signature puff ball of hair. He was getting bigger, ten on the verge of eleven and growing like a gangly weed.

"Pa, love you," he said sweetly. He rarely spoke, so I knew this was probably a ploy. Eli had partial hearing in his left ear, he could speak and read lips, so when in comparison to my nephew Levi, he was a highly functional deaf boy, but he didn't often choose to speak and when he did it was usually to outsiders, to catch our attention or when he or Mark really wanted something, the two of them together were a devilish duo.

'I love you too, Eli,' I signed looking between the two of them suspiciously. Mark mouthed something, though didn't say it out loud, and though I was a fluent signer, that conversation went entirely over my head. I reached out to Mark, pulling him on the bed with us so that Eli was sandwiched between us, giggling at whatever their plans were.

Mark laughed, the cutest, most endearing laugh, but Eli, still looking at me, didn't notice. It pained me sometimes, the things that Eli missed because he was deaf. Eli was a very proud member of the deaf community and when they called it a community, it was really a community, though a quickly dwindling one. With the increasing use of cochlear implants, sign language was actually starting to die out, which is why Eli was so adamant about not getting one.

His birth parents were teenagers, unemployed, not even finished with high school, they had no way of affording the costly operation, and the adoption agency, while caring and well meaning, were far from well funded enough to provide that "luxury" to him. Upon adoption one of the main factors for us being awarded the chance to adopt him, besides our ability to sign, was that we were financially secure enough to fund his surgery. We had gotten private insurance just for the purpose of the operation on his right ear, which would restore his hearing back to almost 70%, but he assured us he didn't need or want them at an early age and we wouldn't force it. The money and the insurance were still there, but at eleven he was still holding out.

"Oh, come on, Jordan, don't be a fuddy-duddy, we want to go shopping," Mark wailed dramatically, signing above his head so Eli could follow, but then he turned, leaning in to whisper in a way only a wolf would catch. "And with all the attention on Hazel, it's the least we could do."

'Where do you want to go?' I signed to them and Eli's face broke into the most brilliant smile I'd ever seen on his youthful face.

'O-L-Y-M-P-I-A,' he replied, but by the time he got to Y, I was already up grabbing a shirt to finish off my outfit. Mark grabbed me, kissing me passionately when Eli ran to get ready.

"Lock the door," he instructed and using my full speed to close and lock the door, I was back to him before he even had time to unbutton his pants, which I did for him. We didn't discuss it, and really nothing overtly sexual had happened, but there was a need there and as soon as his pants were down, I took him in my mouth, savoring the delicacy of his vanilla tinted skin. He grabbed my head, tightly lacing his fingers through my hair and urging me forward, something he didn't do often, but made my stomach clench with the need to please him; he was still and would always be, my Alpha.

"Pa! Da!" Eli called from the living room where he had smartly read the locked door as a sign to wait, though with the prospect of shopping for presents, no kid could wait patiently. I sucked harder, taking him in farther until I felt I would gag on the swollen head of his stiffness and when he released a few minutes later, I licked him dry, allowing him to gain his composure enough to finish getting ready.

We dressed alike, the three of us, entirely unplanned, but it happened a lot, all clad in blue t-shirts and jeans. Marcus and Eli sat in the back, which they did whenever it was the three of us, having rapid conversations I could only catch glimpses of. Today they were talking about a girl, which I hoped was Ava, though my son seemed to be oblivious to the charms of the adorable girl he called his best friend. Whoever he was talking about, he was smitten and Mark took the opportunity to advise him, though I wasn't sure Mark was the best source for lady advice. He was gorgeous, that was not the problem, Mark just didn't know the first thing about having a girlfriend.

"Where are we going exactly?" I called back and I could see through the rearview Mark translating.

"He wants to go to Target," Mark interpreted.

"Target? I thought he wanted—okay, Target it is," I announced changing course towards the Target near Port Angeles.

Every Target in every city that I have ever been in is arranged in the same exact way, so I led the parade exactly to our favorite department: electronics. Eli and I went directly to the entertainment part of it, movies and music and Mark almost ran to the computers.

'What is your favorite movie?' Eli asked holding a copy of a Paulie Shore movie that outdated even me.

'You have never seen it,' I signed leaning into him to read the back cover.

'What is it?'

"Robin Hood Men in Tights," Mark announced from behind me, signing to my son before he pulled me to his firm form from behind.

"That's not my favorite," I argued, but he knew me too well.

'Can we watch it tonight?' Eli signed running down the aisle to find it.

"There goes our romantic night of delirious love making," Mark joked leading us down the aisle still holding me round the middle.

"Well, we can still get to that once he's tucked in," I promised and he kissed my neck causing an elderly couple to hiss as they passed us, Mark responded with a sexy growl.

'What should we get Hazel?' Eli asked once a handful of movies were chosen to fill our home library.

'What do you want to get her?' I asked him and he nearly skipped towards the toys humming a bizarre little tune as he went.

We spent the next hour talking Eli out of trying to get Hazel half the aisle of dolls with the saved allowance he brought along in a sandwich bag. He loved his little sister immensely, in a way that made him glow whenever he played with her or really even just talked about her.

"DA! PA! Here!" Eli called from the end of the aisle inappropriately loud, though no one seemed to notice, seeing that the aisle was filled with screaming children.

Playschool Customizable Doll House. The box was huge, double the size of my little Peach, and much too heavy for Eli to pick up though he held the edges as if it was the greatest treasure in all the land.

"Its ninety dollars," I whispered over Eli's shoulder.

"We can't let him spend all of his allowance on it," Mark hissed.

"Mark, what kind of lesson would that teach him about spending and money management?"

"I got it," Eli said clearly. He was reading our lips and to prove his point he waved the clear sandwich bag in front of his face.

'It's a little expensive, son. Why don't you pick out something cheaper?' I suggested, but he shook his head pointing to the box frantically. Mark picked it up, kissing my cheek softly before he led the way to the registers.

We wrapped her present in green polka-dotted wrapping paper, in the living room, watching Robin Hood with subtitles and eating kettle corn. And when Eli was pooped out, we retreated to the bedroom, spending the night in a mass of sweaty limbs.

The party was even bigger than I imagined; more colorful and livelier than the circus. Annabelle had done a fantastic job with the decorations and entertainment. Looking at it, you would never guess it was a community center. It literally looked like a carnival. Though Hazel was not enrolled in school yet, being home-schooled with me since I didn't have a job at the moment, the entire pre-school, who would soon be her classmates were invited. The parents of the happy kids all thanked us, individually making play dates with Hazel, who to be honest, could use the social interaction, having spent most of her life among people more than double her age.

The entire pack, even Trisha, showed up, which was a surprise to us all considering the epic argument Mark and Rachel had over the "Sammy Incident" as we had deemed it, followed by an even more vicious war of words between him and Trisha.

"I can't believe she's showing her face here," Mark breathed, Soli nodding furiously at his side.

"It's her niece's party," I said carefully, hoping to defuse the situation.

"Yeah and when was the last time we were invited to absolutely anything of my nieces, Jordan? In fact I think I can name at least ten events we were specifically not invited to!" He spat, his eyes on fire.

"True, but how about this, after the party you can write her a letter... if you want to be petty, but right now let's try not to ruin the party we spent a few thousand dollars on, and which our daughter is enjoying immensely I might add," I pointed out, shifting his attention to Hazel, snuggled in Helen's arms watching a magic show performed by a tall black man and his tiny red headed assistant.

Hazel was squealing and her hands were balled into happy little fists, which she clapped together whenever a trick was performed. Mark's face softened, watching our daughter's infectious joy.

"Sorry, you're right, and no letters," he chuckled pulling me into a tender kiss. "Am I a scrooge?" He asked as he pulled me towards Hazel.

"To be honest... yeah," I laughed kissing him again. "But I prefer to look at it as passionate and protective."

"I'll try to be better, pinky swear." He held his finger out offering it to me, I twisted mine around his, kissing the union with a smile.

"Daddy look!" Hazel cheered when the magician's assistant pulled the floppy eared rabbit out of her hat. We made our way to her side, Helen handing her over as soon as we were close enough to reach.

"Are you happy?" Mark asked after the magician finally finished the show, making way for the cake, which was being rolled out by Jared, eyes crinkled in a smile.

"Vewy," she assured us, standing on my thighs so she could give us both big lip smacking kisses on the cheek or in Mark's case the chin.

Hazel's pile of presents was at least 10 times her size and 100 times her body weight and with the excitement of the day, Hazel hadn't gotten her daily nap, so when it came time to open them, even struggling through yawns and heavy eyelids she only got through a few. Her handmade fancy dresses with ornate details and monogrammed bodices from Kim and Jared, a beautiful tree swing from Emily and Sam. David looked around before he carried Sammy over to hand Hazel her present, a baseball glove, and the final piece she reached before slumber finally claimed her, Eli's dollhouse.

The box was bigger than her so she had to be carried to it, and she feverishly tore at the paper, which made a small green mound on the ground when she was finished.

"Eli! Eli!" She used her last reserves of energy to circle the box twice, inspecting the pictures on both sides of the box before throwing herself in her brother's arms.

"You like?" Eli asked carefully.

"Love you!" She howled, kissing his forehead as he held her.

"Aww," the watching crowd broke into a chorus and I turned to Mark ready to say something about it, but the glossy state of his eyes was enough. I wiped the single tear on the corner of his eye with my thumb, dragging him into my arms, which earned us yet another collective sigh.

"Love you," he mimicked Hazel with a grin and as if no one was watching I kissed my husband, who had filled my life with more joy than I ever thought imaginable.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Hazel Enters the World

* * *

The morning was still dark, hazy and unclear due to the heavy black clouds above covering the sun that was desperate to peek through. Eli had started school two weeks ago but the pre-school in La Push didn't start until September, which gave me two more weeks to covet and cuddle my Hazel before the terrifying day of separation arrived.

"I want to wear blue," Hazel's ringing voice called out to me from the bed where she sat in a yoga-like pose watching me as I tried to get her ready. I had already presented her with upwards to fifty outfits from her "fall line" but none of them had yet to tickle her fancy.

"How about this?" I asked presenting a blue and white striped dress with a thick red belt from her "summer collection" which might have been a bit light for the fall though I brought it out with it a thick red knit cardigan I knew she loved and a pair of fuzzy lined red rain boots.

"Perfect Daddy! Oh, Daddy, you listen!" She howled laying the outfit out on the bed and examining it with an artistic eye. We had talked at length about her likes and dislikes just the day before. I know that all parents must think their children are gifted, but at four-years old, if Hazel, who had an unmatched vocabulary, wasn't a genius, I didn't know who or what was. She ran with the dress towards her paper divider changing like a dainty little lady all by herself as Tara had taught her to.

Hazel had the distinct advantage, or at least we hoped it was an advantage, of having a large variety of women around her. Helen taught her how to read and Soli had introduced her to Indie music I wasn't even sure I understood, though Hazel danced to it like a fool. Tara took that dancing love and instructed her not only in ballet but in the grace of being a lady. Claire nurtured her natural eye for art and color, Kim taught her how to swear though I wasn't sure she did it on purpose, Emily taught her about being polite and Harley threw those lessons out the window.

When Hazel reemerged, her dress all flared and adorable, she let me help her slip on her socks and boots and her thick sweater though I knew it was for my benefit and not her own. She was growing up and I was latching on, desperate to keep my little girl little for as long as I could.

"Are you ready for your day?" I asked her, watching as she packed her tiny black and white polka dot bookbag with the supplies listed on the school's website. Preschool asked for a lot more than I remembered from my childhood though the education reform of the late 2030's did set the standards higher than they have ever been.

"Yes, Maria is going to sit next to me. She's my friend." Maria was one of the many children Hazel had become buddies with after her end of the summer month long play date bonanza, though she was one of the very few Hazel seemed to click with. It wasn't that Hazel was a cry baby, she could be extremely tough, and it wasn't that she was unpleasant, she was sweet as pie, but at times with unfamiliar people she clammed up, staying entirely quiet no matter how hard the others around her tried to pull her out of her shell.

"Oh, that's going to be fun," I cooed pulling out her little panda umbrella which she opened indoors for the umpteenth time this week, no matter how many times I asked her not to. She swirled it above her head, dancing with her sweater already in place and her book bag attached at her back. I couldn't prolong it any longer, I pulled on a shirt, slipped on some shoes and we were off, my sweet angel safely in place in her car seat.

"Daddy?" She sang out, kicking her little legs and watching me through the rearview mirror.

"Yes Peach," I answered giving her a wink in the mirror to make sure she knew I was listening.

"What time will you come get me?" She asked timidly and my heart, as if it was being pumped with air, doubled in size. She was just as scared as I was. I had become a stay-at-home Dad the year before she came to stay with us, meaning there had been very few days that Hazel and I did not spend together. She was putting on a brave face but she was scared too.

"Class ends at 1:15, Sweetie, and I will be there as soon as the teacher opens the door, I promise," I said firmly. She frowned turning to look out the window as we made our way into the school's parking lot.

"But Daddy, I wanted to go to Maria's house after school… can I?" She asked impatiently as if she had already asked me a hundred times and I had refused her at every turn. It's hard to admit it, but it hurt. She was my baby girl and she was leaving me for a whole day, a Monday, the day we usually fed ducks at the pond in the park and made dinner for the boys.

"Well, I have to call Maria's mother first but if you want to, yeah." I tried not to sound too unhappy about this new revelation but the excitement in her face made it harder.

It was raining heavily so I ran around to the back of the van, pulling out her umbrella which honestly covered very little of me and bracing her to my chest, covering her as best I could until we were in the safe confines of the bustling, warm school corridors.

"Daddy?" She asked again as I checked the school map, looking for her classroom.

"Yes, Peach."

"Can you let me down now?" Her head was tilted, her beautiful red curls cascading like a waterfall down her face, searching my eyes for an answer to my bizarre behavior. I put her down, kissing her little cheek before I placed her on the ground.

I shouldn't have wasted the time checking the map because no other room on the first floor was as bombarded with parents and tiny children as Room C on the south end of the hall. Maria and her mother stood near the end of the line of parents trying to get their children situated for their first day of class. Some children were crying, some laughing and one, a small caramel skinned girl with a long plait down her back screamed in obvious frustration, but Maria, as seemingly well adjusted as my Peach, called out.

"Hazel!"

Maria's mother Lisette was Puerto Rican, young, no older than 24 but nevertheless she was always impeccably dressed, polite, well-spoken and utterly enthralled with her daughter. Her boyfriend Ryan was a Quileute that held some vague family relation to Krys and Anna, though the exact degree could not be ascertained on either occasion I asked. He was an electrician and though we rarely saw him, he gave the impression of complete devotion to his daughter and girlfriend whenever he was around and that was enough to put them both on the short list of people I would trust with Hazel's care.

"Oh, Jordan, come here," Lisette cried on the verge of tears. She pulled me into a warm friendly hug kissing both of my cheeks, a custom I had yet to become used to too. She smelled like coffee and sweet creamwhich matched surprisingly well with her long brown duster and creamy beige top which she wore over a pair of super tight jeans, her way I guessed of still feeling young though she had a child in school and one more on the way.

Maria, dressed like a miniature version of her mother, wore a brown turtleneck and little girl jeans, something we would never get Hazel into because of her aversion to pants and earth tones.

I kneeled down offering my hand to the little girl which she took with a bell-like giggle.

"Hello, Maria. You look wonderful, whose you're designer?" I asked, this was a game Hazel and I often played. Whenever I allow Hazel to get dressed completely on her own, she would walk the runway (i.e our kitchen hallway) and twirl twice before she came to talk to the reporters. Sometimes it was just me, asking her about what and who she was wearing. Other times it was the whole family.

Since she came into our life, Hazel has been a tornado of fashion and decoration. Each room in our house needed to be adjusted to fit her style, all clothes had to be approved by Hazel before they were worn and even Eli's choice of clothing and hairstyles were subject to her scrutiny.

Maria, who seemed confused by my question, smiled anyways, pointing up at her mother who beamed at her with such pride it made my heart hurt. I had never really had a mother, she had been taken away from me before I could really understand the magnitude of what I would be missing. Now Hazel, still too young to really understand it, was also motherless.

We wondered, Mark and I, if she really knew how different we were as a family. Eli was older when he came into our care, he was essentially alone, so to him we were like salvation, but Hazel had never been consciously orphaned. She went from her birth mother to two adopted mothers to her grandmother to us. Was there something about a mother, something special about the love of a mother that we could not provide? Did she know even now that her friend María had something we could never really provide?

When it came our time to escort the girls to class, we found a small round table where a pink cheeked boy fresh from crying sat alone. Unlike Lisette who worked three days a week, I had never sent Hazel to daycare. So Maria was an old hand at this separation thing, she kissed her mother on both cheeks and took off her coat carefully hanging it on the colorful hooks in the corner.

"Come on, big boy, you'll be fine. Wanna eat ice cream and watch daytime TV?" Lisette asked bumping into me playfully as I watched Hazel remove her thick sweater with help from Maria, placing it on the blue hook next to hers.

"You don't think we should wait around for a little bit, make sure they are okay?" I asked Lisette as she pulled me towards the door. Hazel blew me a kiss which I caught dramatically just as I reached the door, placing it lovingly on my cheek.

"Nope, we've got to let them experience this on their own, trust me if you come running back the first day or she starts crying and you're still here, she will do it everyday," Lisette said wisely and with her arm linked in mine I turned the corner, waving one last time to my little girl, now all grown up.

"Come on, daddy bear, I took the day off, lets celebrate, alright?"

"What are we celebrating?" I asked her incredulously. She smiled in a very understanding if not condescending way before she spoke again.

"Our daughters entering the world," she smiled motioning of me to follow her in my minivan which I did without hesitation though I was starting to doubt her sanity. How did she not see how terrifying this was? Our girls, our tiny little girls subject to young inexperienced teachers barely old enough to have children of their own, in contact with children of questionable parentage, with Lord knows what kind of manners and germs… I was a mess.

Lisette made us hot cocoa with almond extract and she told me about her family and her life, much more than I had gathered from our short times together. She was younger than I had guessed at only twenty; she had given birth to Maria at just 16 and her boyfriend soon-to-be husband was equally young.

Her house was small but clean and very well kempt. There were only two small rooms, Maria's instantaneous identifiable by the brightness that seemed to glow from it. Ryan had chosen to move them back here for the extra government help they could receive here as a registered member of the tribe. It made me worry for them, how could they afford, much less fit, another child in this tiny place?

I hadn't actually come in contact with many La Push residents outside of the pack for years. I saw them at stores and events when I happened to be in town, but I had lost touch with my roots and the problems facing the community a long time ago. Living and being a member of the pack was so very overwhelming, and when compared to some of the rest of the town, it seemed… almost perfect. We had our fair share of conflicts and drama, which was to be expected within a circle that was so intricately interwoven, but none of us dealt with the poverty or drug addiction rampant in town. Helen and Collin's continued recreational pot use was a source of comic relief more than a worry.

We never had to think about poverty, true some had less than others but never true poverty. We had never experienced cases of teen pregnancy, though that was a miracle in and of itself considering the way people seemed to mate like bunnies around here. We never saw or even thought about domestic violence, and though we could not boast the highest education levels, none among us were entirely uneducated. We were lucky and we didn't even know it.

"How did you meet Mark?" She asked timidly I could tell that while she was open and accepting of the idea of a gay couple raising a family, she had never experienced it before so was unsure on how to broach the subject. On average I tended to be more reserved, but seeing as she had just shared with me a pretty detailed summary of her life, I let her off the hook and broke the ice.

"Mark is the son of my old boss, Sam. I met him when I had just sorta finished my first book and I was thinking about starting my second."

"You're a writer?' She squealed, almost choking on her hot cocoa.

"Yes, I have written three books, my first one was written in Seattle, I'd left La Push, and when I came back I met him." I smiled feeling awkward talking about my achievements with a girl I knew worked so hard for the little she had.

"Was that when he was Chief? Ryan told me he was like the youngest chief ever."

Her big eyes were held open even wider than usual as she awaited my answer and I nodded making them all the much bigger. "I met him just before he became chief but yeah… he's amazing."

"He is and so handsome," she beamed playfully smacking my arm.

"Yeah, isn't he?" I never really got to brag about Mark with anyone before. Most outsiders I dealt with were in the literary world, and it wasn't really appropriate to brag about your gorgeous brilliant husband with your publisher, but I liked the feeling. I liked telling her about our struggles or how he was my student for a while, or that he made my knees weak before I was even sure I liked him. I finally got to voice my fears about Hazel missing out on a mother and was touched when she brushed away my concerns without even a second thought.

"She's so lucky to have you two though. It's better two fathers and a brother who love her, honestly," Lisette swore. I loved talking to her, I liked the freedom, the outside perspective and the honesty. Lisette, now six months pregnant, had no problem finishing a tub of ice cream and I was so relaxed that I didn't even realize we were minutes late to pick up the girls, the day just went by that fast.

"Daddy!" Hazel cried as I turned the corner into the room still teaming with kids and their parents eager to have them safe at home again.

"Ooh, Peach, I missed you," I told her, kissing both sides of her pudgy cheeks. Some of the surrounding parents, those who had not accepted the invitation to Hazel's summer party watched us closely. With Hazel being so pale, so obviously not native, I got used to those kind of stares, made worse when Mark and I took her out together, though Hazel seemed confused.

"Why are they looking at us?" She whispered in my ear as I pulled on her thick sweater and boots she had taken off during class.

"Because you're just that beautiful, Peach."

"Hehe, Daddy, you're silly," she cried leaning into me as I pulled on her left boot.

"I know… did you miss me?" I asked batting my eyes at her dramatically, she laughed louder throwing herself in my arms.

"Umhmm, I missed you a lot."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Peach's Loss

* * *

I've never planned a funeral before. I have attended many, too many, but I have never been part of the planning process before.

My parents' funerals were planned by my grandparents, my grandmother took care of my grandfather's, my sister, Crystal, took charge of my Nana's funeral... and Anna, who was the foundation of the Varn family before Michael even married her, took care of Crystal's and her own son Devlin's, but there was no one else to shoulder this affair.

Norma Ester O'Neal, age eighty-four, died in her sleep of natural causes in the early hours of June 9th 2045. It was the day before my fifty-fourth birthday and just hours before the birth of Tristan Littlesea, Soli and Randy's first child, who was beautiful beyond belief. He fit perfectly across my forearm and though he tried to hide it, I couldn't help but notice the single tear that fell down Mark's cheek when he held him. He was such a softy, and children were his soft spot.

Mark and I, still not entirely awake after spending the night at the hospital with the newborn, got the call from the retirement home around eight thirty. I can't say it was unexpected. She was eighty-four years old and had a wide range of health problems, but we had taken Hazel to see her just a week ago and she looked healthy, or at least as healthy as an eighty year old woman should. We weren't prepared, which wasn't like us, but another death was the last thing we wanted to think about.

We had a pow-wow, our first parent meeting since Eli hit puberty and we had to give him the sex talk. Hazel was a few months shy of seven, so when it came down to breaking the news, we couldn't exactly get away with telling her Norma moved to the farm, but death was just so much heavier than we ever wanted to get with your little girl.

Eli came with us, he held her in his lap as we explained and Hazel was devastated. My Peach didn't cry much, in fact she barely cried at all, so her endless stream of tears was like little jabs to my heart.

"But why did she die?" She asked Eli holding his face in her hands and speaking slowly so he could read her lips. Hazel aimed most of her important questions to Eli, there was a trust there and just a hint of the big brother worship Michael had for me growing up.

Eli shrugged his shoulders, pulling her in for a hug when he couldn't think of an answer for her. Maybe I'm naïve, but at fifty-four years old I come from a completely different generation. I can't say it was a simpler time, it was a time of war, unemployment, high crime rates and raging controversy over gay marriage, but I very stupidly thought, that my Angel wouldn't really understand the finality or seriousness of death, but she did.

Mark took the week off of work and her brother, Eli, almost fourteen and even more protective and loving than before, stayed by her side the entire time I planned. Norma had no living family and very little money, though her life insurance covered most of the expenses that her service incurred.

I planned a simple event; sent a notice to her assisted living facility and on the day of the funeral, when I thought none but our small nuclear family would come, our entire family showed up, paying their respects to a woman they never knew. Each and every Varn was in attendance, imprints and all, and not a Uley was absent.

Hazel was passed from hug to hug as we cooked, her tears drying up by the time we settled down for dinner in our cabin, which was impromptu, the house almost bursting at the seams with wolves and wives and kids. Our cabin was too small for everyone, in recent history with our growing families we had never attempted to host any family events, not with everyone all together at least. Emily, Trisha, Levi and I took center stage in the kitchen trying to make enough food for more than twenty people.

Seth, who was particularly good with kids, and who Hazel was partial to in a very girly-giggly kind of way, kept her attached to his hip and for the first time in years we were just together, no bickering, no glares or frowns, no off-handed comments, no arguments, just family. Even Sam forgot to be uncomfortable around me, taking the beer I passed him with a smile.

Soli, fresh out of the hospital came over with her boy, bursting to show him off. She had that beaming new mommy look, matched with the signature high heels and rocker clothes that complimented her in such a way that she glowed. Randy, who seemed entirely overwhelmed with the tiny three-day-old, followed them around like a jittery magnet, the new father paranoia I'd seen almost every wolf go through. Jared had carried Ethan as if he were made of the most fragile blown glass, watched him with the kind of eyes that sparkled like he was inspecting the world's largest unblemished diamond and Sam... Sam held his boys, my Mark, with an awed reverence he normally reserved solely for Emily.

"So are you and Mark thinking about adopting another baby?" Trisha asked, noting my rapt attention to the newly formed Call-Littlesea family.

"I don't know really... Mark hasn't brought it up," I said honestly as Seth made his way into the kitchen where Trisha and I were busy putting together an assembly of pies for the masses.

"I'm starving! Can't I get some salad or something?" Seth whined holding Hazel in one arm as he lifted various pot lids from the pans gently simmering on the stove and peaked under aluminum foil covering the finished trays resting on the counter.

"The food will be done in half an hour," Emily cooed, roughly rustling Seth's shaggy hair and pressing Hazel's nose like a little button. Hazel laughed, the deep indent of her dimple nearly blinding everyone around her. Trisha, who was rolling out the homemade pastry for the pies, granted her an answering smile.

"You have such beautiful hair, Ms. Hazel," Trisha whispered in a sing-song voice. Once Seth brought her within arms reach, she pulled Hazel to her chest and placed her on the little stepping stool between her and the mound of dough she was manipulating. With one arm wrapped expertly around Hazel's middle, Trisha taught her how to roll out the dough, using the thick wooden rolling-pin and spray bottle of water.

"Have you finished setting up Tristan's room," Mark called to Soli as he pulled me in from behind and wrapped his arms over my torso. He leaned in, running his nose along my neck then up to the tender shell of my ear which he nibbled playfully.

"I love you," he breathed in my ear as Soli filled us in on the details of Tristan's newly remodeled nursery in the Cullen mansion.

"I love you more," I insisted. He kissed me long and hard in the middle of the kitchen, not listening to the awkward silence that followed, completely immune to our audiences' reactions after so many wonderful years together.

When he pulled away, leaving me all dazed, I coaxed Tristan out of Soli's loving arms and pulled him to my chest. His heartbeat was so fast, double the speed of a typical infant though his eyes were firmly shut, eyelids fluttering along with his REM cycle. Tristan was an exact armful, his tan light against my dark forearms, the wisps of hair on his soft head nearly black.

"Daddy?" Hazel called to me as I held baby Tristan, Mark watching him over my shoulder.

"Yes, Hazel," Mark and I answered her in unison. She was still in Trisha's arms and my sister-in-law, Jessy Uley, stood by their side holding Seth's free hand happily as he devoured a sandwich Emily made special for him, covered in mustard and relish just like he liked them.

"Why don't you and Daddy have a baby too?" Hazel asked Mark, motioning to me curiously. She still wore her black fluffy funeral dress, which was now sprinkled with flour in adorable, starkly contrasting powdery dots and smeared streaks of off white. Trisha playing with Hazel's long curly red locks froze, before erupting in a fit of laughter that roused even baby Tristan, who had slept through the better part of the late afternoon.

Soledad hopped into full mother mode and whisked her boy away, hushing him with soft, comforting cooing sounds as he cried out in general annoyance and probable hunger.

Mark and I shared a look, the long kind of meaningful look we shared when we had no fucking clue what to say to our beautiful kids. When we adopted Eli he was about Hazel's age now, but in a way he was already more worldly. He wasn't hardened or callous like a lot of kids growing up in the system, but he had a very intuitive understanding of people, so that when we adopted him and brought him home, we didn't really have to explain the logistics of me and Jordan as a couple. He knew the mechanics, and though we knew he knew it was odd, maybe even thought it was strange at first, we provided Eli with unconditional love and support and he never questioned it.

Hazel came to us much smaller, entirely pure and innocent. She was growing, starting to question just about everything around her, and we had been waiting for her to finally ask the big question, "why do I have two daddies?" This, however, wasn't exactly how we expected it to come forward. We figured she would be presented with the birds and the bees before she became curious about the Adam and Steve's, but that was just my Hazel, she did things out of order sometimes.

"Peach, two men can't have a baby... but maybe when you're a little older, daddy and I can apply to open our house to another baby?" I said it like a question, eyeing Mark's reaction, his smile grew wide.

"We'll have to get a bigger place first," Mark said seriously, but the bright sparkle in his eyes was blindingly joyful.

"Why don't you have a wife then, Daddy?" She asked Mark, reaching for him to take her from Trisha's grasp.

"Because Daddy Jay is my husband," Mark explained placing her between us like a loving Hazel sandwich.

"Husband and husband?" She asked leaning her head against mine in a serious moment of thoughtfulness. I could see the wheels behind her eyes turning as she tried to process the thought of men together, contrary to every Disney movie and Fairytale romance she'd every encountered.

"Yup, me and Jordan are husband and husband and you and Eli are our babies, right?" Mark said looking over Hazel's shoulder to catch my eye. 'How was that?' He mouthed and I shrugged nervously.

"Oh," she said simply, nodding to herself thoughtfully.

We ate dinner in the garden behind our house, mosquito tikis lighting up the boundaries of our backyard and swarms of fireflies twinkling in the darkness. Melody and Anna returned after dinner with their guitars, taking turns holding Hazel on their lap and teaching her chords to old rock tunes, her small fingers stretching to reach the correct positions, the girls helping when her petite hand couldn't.

"So, you're thinking about another child?" Mark asked pinning me securely against the side of the cabin where we'd made our home and raised our family.

"When they are older... off to college, starting families of their own," I whispered against the skin of his neck as he held me.

"So then you came to a decision about phasing again?" He asked, pushing me further against the stone siding, pressing fully against me in the most enticing way, which still powerfully stirred my blood, even after all these years.

I hadn't made a decision, not really, the thought was always in the back of my mind, but I hadn't really worked out the pros and cons as of yet. "Not really... Anna and Michael have stopped."

"And you don't want to watch your brother die," Mark spoke my unsaid fear. I had not mentioned it, but he knew me well. I did not think I could take anymore death, could handle the loss of anymore of my family. That was why my brother and my sister-in-law had stopped phasing now that their children were both settled and happy.

"No, I don't, do you?" I shot back and he pulled away far enough to look into my eyes.

"And if I lose you? I can't live through that loss Jordan, I can't. Do you know why I quit so early? To ensure that I leave this world before you because I can't suffer the torture, I can't even discuss the possibility of losing you. All others I can live through with you by my side, but I can not risk the possibility of not having you for every second of my life," Mark hissed, trying not to call attention to us as the celebration of Norma's life raged on around us.

"If we go back to phasing everyone we know will be gone, the world around us as we know it will cease to exist and we will have to watch them all go," I reasoned, though the thought of breathing for even a second after Mark departed this world made my chest feel heavy, painful to pull in the next gulp of air.

"Look at Tristan, Jordan, look at him," he urged, pointing towards Soli, who sang along to the rhythmic drumming of our Peach's guitar, Tristan rocking slowly in her arms.

"There will always be us, our relationship and the pack will live on forever. Tristan's little Tristan and his Tristan and all the Tristans and Coopers and Hopes and Harrisons, there won't be an end, only a continuation of the world we live in," he whispered with quiet passion, his eyes burning with intensity and determination.

"Okay but we won't be able to live in it. We'll have to leave like Embry and Letty, we'll need new identities and new lives…. and it—it won't be easy to phase again, we'd need a trigger now," I reasoned. The feel of passion, the wolf inside of me had gone completely dormant sometime in the last two years, I didn't know if I even could transform now.

"Then we'll take the family to Italy or go to Claire's sister Lana, she lives in Alaska."

"Okay," I conceded kissing the soft corner of his luscious mouth.

"Okay," he smiled kissing me long and hard. "Wow, so our Peach might get a little brother or sister," he mused sucking on my plump bottom lip.

"Yeah, and then maybe she can explain why Daddy Jay and Daddy Mark don't have wives," I chuckled pulling him towards the crowd where Eli played hacky sack with Krista and Levi.

"Hmm... good idea," he agreed taking a seat next to his niece Sarah around the small bonfire lit on the edge of the clearing. We roasted marshmallows over the crackling flames until the children grew tired and I was finally able to lay my beautiful girl in her bed, peaceful in her slumber.


End file.
